Species Recovery Objectives for Four Target Species in the Central and Lower Platte River

• Description: Prepared for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• State: CO
• State: NE
• State: WY
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 6/26/2002
• Author: James M. Lutey, Subcontractor for URS Greiner Woodward Clyde
• Title: Species Recovery Objectives for Four Target Species in the Central and Lower Platte River ‎(Whooping Crane, Interior Least Tern, Piping Plover, Pallid Sturgeon)‎
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

the importance of the Lower Platte River, North Platte River or South Platte River
for their contribution to least tem and piping plover recovery. It is recognized that
terns and plovers in the Platte River system interact with each other, and birds on the
central Platte River should not be considered a separate population. If recovery plan
objectives for the entire Platte River are met in the future (i.e., 280 adult piping
plovers and 750 adult breeding least terns), then the objectives for the central Platte
River may need to be revisited. In addition, if recovery objectives are achieved in
the future on the central Platte River, they should be revisited and the new
information should be viewed in conjunction with production and habitat data from
other segments of the Platte River.
A.3. Habitat Limitations on the Central Platte River
Numerous studies have documented the changes to the central Platte River channel
area. The central Platte River near Grand Island during the period of 1813 -57 varied
in width from .5 to 3 miles across. Additional documentary evidence provides
measurements in the same area that list the width as greater than 1,100 yards prior to
1899, but showing a drastic decrease to about 550 yards in 1899, 330 yards in 1913,
and 305 yards in 1919.7 Further west, the North Platte River in the fall of 1845 was
merely a succession of sandbars among which the channel was divided into rivulets a
few inches deep.8 Reservoir storage of flows responsible for scouring sandbars has
resulted in the encroachment of vegetation along many rivers such as the Platte River
and greatly reduced channel width.9 Sandbar habitat along the Platte River between
North Platte and Grand Island has largely disappeared due to changes in flow
7 Williams, G.P. 1978. The case of the shrinking channels - the North Platte and the
Platte Rivers in Nebraska. U. S. Geological Circular No. 781.
8 Fremont, J. C. 1845. Report of the exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
Washington, D.C. 693 pp.
9 Currier, P. J., G. R. Lingle, and J. G. VanDerwalker. 1985. Migratory bird habitat on
the Platte and North Platte Rivers in Nebraska. The Platte River Whooping Crane Habitat
Maintenance Trust, Grand Island, Nebraska.
O'Brien, J. S., and P. J. Currier. 1987. Channel morphology, channel maintenance and
riparian vegetation changes in the big bend reach of the Platte River in Nebraska.
Unpublished report. 49 pp.
Eschner, T., R Hadley, and K Crowley. 1981. Hydrologic and morphologic changes in
the Platte River Basin in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska: a historical perspective.
U. S. Geological Survey open file report 81 -1125. U. S. Geological Survey, Denver,
Colorado.
Lyons, J., and T. Randle. 1988. Platte River channel characteristics in the big bend
reach. U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado. Unpublished report. 69 pp.
Sidle, J. G., E. D. Miller, and P. J. Currier. 1989. Changing habitats in the Platte River
valley of Nebraska. Prairie Naturalist 21:91 -104.
Stinnett, D. P., R. W. Smith, and S. W. Conrady. 1987. Riparian areas of western
Oklahoma: a special study of their status, trends and values. U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Unpublished report. 80 pp.
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